A Master of Disaster

Trump Let’s Generals Make Afghan Policy

Like the unrepentant charlatan that he is, Donald Trump began his speech announcing a “new” policy in Afghanistan with a syrupy sweet call for peace and unity on the home front that was a paragon of duplicity, since he is the main cause of the growing internecine conflict that is engulfing America. After all, Trump has just recently threatened to throw many men and women that are honorably serving in our armed forces because of their sexual orientation…a matter that has already been settled!

In his shameful amoral refusal to show any sign that he is even able to recognize right from wrong, fascist from anti-fascist, those who stand for freedom and those who would destroy it, his speech sound leaden, phony and unconvincing. Imagine how the many active duty servicemen, many of whom may have already served in a combat zones, must have felt being forced to listen to this pompous, narcissistic, draft dodging dunce.

In this regard, Donald Trump is dramatically different from what we have come to expect from US presidents since the rise of fascism in Europe during the 1930’s. Indeed, Donald Trump, morally depraved ignoramus that he continually demonstrates himself to be, must look like a comic figure, a double-talking buffoon, to the young men in the Islamic world whose hearts and minds he must win in order to turn them away for the Jihadist movement and end the conflicts that presently ravage the middle East. Yet the most potent weapon in this fight to convince the pool of angry young men on the “Arab street,” who are the primary source for Jihadi militants, is to offer a superior vision of a future which America can help them to realize.

Alas there was nothing in this speech, stiffly delivered from a script written by aides – the sound of which suggest it was authored in the Pentagon rather than the dangerously understaffed State Department – that offers hope for peace any time soon. On the contrary it sounds like a prescription for perpetual war concocted by the Marine Corps Generals in whose hands he has placed the power to make policy. From where I sit peering into the corridors of power from the outside, it looks like a military coup with the military command lifting a finger. Which, given Trump’s near total ignorance of the structure and function of the vast governmental apparatus that he is expected to preside over, should surprise no one. For clearly this clueless dude is dancing in the dark.

By word and deed Donnie Dimwit constantly reminds those who are paying attention and is not part of the untutored mob that comprises the bulk of his base, that he knows next to nothing of American history, and is too intellectually lazy to try and bone up. He does not even understand that the reason why the architects of the US Constitution placed the military under civilization control is precisely because they did not want a military caste making foreign policy and deciding on matters of war and peace. This is what the venerable Republican intellectual, ideologue and able apologist for their right-wing excesses George Will means when he says Donald Trump’s problem is that: “he doesn’t know what it is to know something.”

That role of deciding where and when the America’s armed forces will be deployed was expressly given to the President in the Constitution, who is named “Commander-In-Chief. But the drafters of the Constitution were men of the 18th century that could not imagine either the vast military machine America has at her command, the size complexity of the United States, nor a President who is as unread, ignorant and incompetent as Trump. Plus the added handicap of an untutored electorate which is incapable of demanding that Congress put him in check.

Due to his inability to govern, which is evidenced by his cavalier decimation of the State Department and his suspicion of congressional power and intentions, Trump is overly relying on military men. That’s why he made this announcement while Congress is on vacation and has made no attempt to seek Congressional counsel or approval for his escalation of the war in Afghanistan – a complex country that has dragged several imperial powers from the Romans, to the British, to the Russians, and now us into a quagmire of frustration and defeat. It would be no exaggeration to say that the dangerous combination of ignorance and belligerence that characterized Trump’s speech is troubling example of what the late Senator Fulbright meant by “The Arrogance of power.”

Trump delivered the speech as if he were a ventriloquists’ dummy, admitting that he had suddenly changed his mind about the position he had repeatedly taken over several years regarding the Afghan war – going from a passionate opponent to an enthusiastic proponent with nary a sign of doubt. It was a stunning, albeit unintentional, confession of that his head is an empty vessel to be filled with whatever content those who has access to him choose to fill it with. How else are we to understand the following statement in light of his vociferous and relentless condemnation of American policy in Afghanistan over much of the last decade?

“My original instinct was to pull out,” Said Trump, “and, historically, I like following my instincts. But all my life I’ve heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office; in other words, when you’re President of the United States. After many meetings, over many months, we held our final meeting last Friday at Camp David, with my Cabinet and generals, to complete our strategy.”

For those who have been paying attention to Trump’s public pronouncements it is all too obvious that there are two distinct characters wrapped up in one body: The scripted and unscripted. The real Donald and the great pretender. And for a person with no deep moral principles or serious intellectual convictions the role of political chameleon is fairly easy to negotiate. Hence, I don’t believe his paradoxical political positions or moral contradictions causes him to lose sleep. This fundamental amorality explains Trump he can fudge the issues raised by neo-Nazi’s bearing torches parading through a southern American city by night shouting Nazi slogans and calling for “white supremacy” – i.e. domination of the master race by law – conjuring up horrific memories of the German genocide against the Jews and the centuries old-tradition of murdering innocent black people in America!

Thus, his attempts to rally the American people around the flag with patriotic platitudes rang hollow:

“By following the heroic example of those who fought to preserve our republic, we can find the inspiration our country needs to unify to heal, and to remain one nation under God…They transcend every line of race, ethnicity, creed, and color to serve together — and sacrifice together — in absolutely perfect cohesion. That is because all service members are brothers and sisters. They’re all part of the same family; it’s called the American family.”

Since millions of Americans regard such sentiments from Trump as empty rhetoric, if not blasphemy, he avoided hecklers by choosing to speak before a captive military audience, who were ordered to be there and show deference to their Commander-in-Chief. But a few choice words at a stage-managed event cannot begin to erase all the hatred and division he has sown among the American people. One of the consequences of playing to the cheap seats all the time is that you begin to underestimate your audience. And that was boldly on display as Trump delivered his simplistic saccharine sentiments to the nation via television.

Not only were his professions of brotherly love unconvincing, but his “new policy” on Afghanistan was even less so. This is because there is nothing that Trump has ever uttered which convinces me that he has thought seriously about complex policy matters for a nanosecond. So, he came across like an actor putting on a show, interpreting a script authored by someone else for the occasion. Hence Trump was merely a vehicle for conveying ideas crafted by the Republican national security establishment – to which the airhead President contributed not a single important idea.

It does not require a rigorous examination in order to see that these ideas offer nothing new, they are little more than old wine in new bottles. When we look between the hyperbolic rhetorical flourishes, we find the same old hackneyed clichés that has informed the foreign policy follies of the past: Korea, Vietnam, Iran and Iraq comes most immediately to mind. One need only consider the following passage from Trump’s synthetic spiel in order to see where we are headed in Afghanistan:

First, our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made, especially the sacrifices of lives. The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory. They deserve the tools they need, and the trust they have earned, to fight and win.”

The obvious question, which has gone unaddressed, is what does victory mean in the Afghanistan theater, that graveyard of empires? Listening to this surreal prattle, the thoughtful observer is forced to ask: “Where has this guy been for the last 16 years?” He sounds as if he’s had his head stuck up his ass, a kind of anal Rip Van Winkle who slept through the events of the last decade and a half. It would be hard to concoct a formula for failure even if one were dedicated to the task. If doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result is the definition of madness: Then America has gone mad…because this is the same old shit!

Playthell G. Benjamin

Harlem, New York

August 2017

Conor was Defenseless

McGregor was in the Same Position as Kid Paret

All the Morons who say the referee should not have intervened to stop the Welter-Weight bout between Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor in Vegas need a reality check about what can happen in a boxing ring when a fighter’s head becomes a punching bag for a world champion boxer. Nothing is more annoying to this writer, and avid boxing fan, than listening to the armchair tough guys who argue that the Referee stopped the fight too soon on Saturday.

And why do they say this? Well they point out that Conor feels that he still had a chance to win it! Duh? Conor had caught so may of Floyd’s straight right hands upside his dome he didn’t even know where tha fuck he was! Consequently he was unable to defend himself against Floyd’s flurry of power punches…Conor had become little more than a punching bag. Virtually all fighters who are on their feet feel that they can continue the fight; no referee who is worth a shit will listen to them!

The Referee is the more objective observer of the action in the ring and has a trained eye for signs that a fighter is in trouble and no longer able to mount a defense. Furthermore, the referee in this fight is in the Boxing Hall of Fame! Aside from the verbosity of these armchair tough guys, who have identified their own sense of manhood with the exploits of these heroic ring warriors to an unhealthy degree, they are actually willing to risk permanent injury or the death of the fighter on the odds that they can still win. The cling to this position even after it becomes obvious that the fighter has too chances at victory: Slim and None!

I think that’s some really sick stuff! Boxing at its best is a thing of manly beauty. It requires strength, courage, exquisite cardio-vascular conditioning, and the smarts to think in terms of strategy and tactics…plus the judgement to be able to distinguish between the two and understand their application to the fight. Which requires the victorious fighter to be swift on the cap!
However, amidst the excitement and confusion of this martial drama the referee has a clear purpose: To prevent chaos by policing the contest and making sure the fighters obey the rules… which, after all, are designed for their safety! Preventing serious injuries and death in the ring is their paramount objective!! Hence for a bunch of poot-butt cream puffs in the peanut gallery to argue that the Ref should have stood idly by while Mayweather administered overhand rights and left hooks to Conor’s head at will is some real callous bullshit.

A lotta these guys would bitch-up and break down faster than Hop-along Cassidy could draw his guns if you smacked them in the face! Yet they are anxious to see two prize fighters fight to the death for their amusement. That is beyond shameful….it is sinful. Although I am an atheist I recognize sinful behavior when I see it, and if goading men to bloody murder for your amusement ain’t a sin…then there is no such thing. These MOFOs should have been around during the days of the Circus Maximus in ancient Rome.

Connor was Clearly in Danger of Serious Injury

There was No Coming Back from This!

However, those who wanted the fight to continue will argue that Conor is a really tough guy and was in no danger of injury or death had he fought on. Alas, either these people know little of boxing history or they are suffering from willful amnesia. Yet those of us who were boxing fans in 1961, remember all too well witnessing a slaughter in the boxing ring live on television!

It is impossible for those who saw it to ever forget when Emile Griffith, a five time World Middle-Weight Champion, who was a deeply closeted gay man, beat his Cuban challenger Benny “Kid” Paret to death! It was a grudge match provoked by the fact during the weigh-in Paret – a colorful fighter who used to dance the Mambo in the ring before a match, much like the NFL receiver Victor Cruz does after scoring a touchdown – had shouted “COCK SUCKER!”

In effect, Paret outed Emile and insulted him before all the fight crowd and the press, because he was saying Emile wasn’t a man and he would pay for that indiscretion with his life, when Emile decided to show The Kid who the REAL FAGGOT WAS! Here is the actual video of that slaughter! I watched this execution in real time. And I say to the doubting Thomas’ who are second guessing the decision of the ref to stop the fight, parroting Conor’s self-serving excuse that he should have been allowed to continue because he was still on his feet, to Please note that BENNY “KID” PARET WAS STANDING UP TOO!

Playthell G. Benjamin

Harlem, New York

August 30, 2017

FLOYD TOOK CONOR TO BOXING SCHOOL!!!

Alas, I have NO TOLERENCE for those white commentators who talk about how well Conor did against Floyd in their boxing mismatch, when the truth is that Conor was NEVER IN THE FIGHT!!! Furthermore, it was disturbing to see how many whites cheered for Conor, a foreign white boy, over their countryman Floyd Mayweather. Where were the boisterous “USA! USA!” chants that one hears from white boys at Trump rallies, who also make up the bulk of white boxing fans. Here they were willing to put loyalty to race over country.

It reminds me of the white Americans who cheered Max Schmeling – and there were many, especially in the South – against Joe Louis, even though the US was on the verge of war with Nazi German and Schmeling was an officer in the German Airborne, who showed up to training camp in New Jersey wearing his Nazi uniform, and Hitler had declared “A Hero of the Third Reich!”

All one need do is watch the film of the Mayweather v McGregor fight and listen to what the white boys on the mike are saying, and if you know boxing it seems as if you are watching different fights! They say Conor won the first three rounds, I don’t know what the official score cards of the judges had to say on the matter, but at most Conor “won” ONE ROUND – the first round!

And even so, Conor was awarded the round because he was the most aggressive and landed two punches on Floyd – who threw about five punches the entire round. In truth Floyd allowed Conor to be the aggressor in the early rounds, because the strategy that Floyd and his father agreed on was to let Conor punch himself out then take the fight to him, “walk him down” and knock his ass out!

So Floyd just played defense, standing right in front of Conor and showing the loud mouthed Irishman that he couldn’t hit him with a handful of rice! It was absurd and an insult to the undisputed greatness of Floyd Mayweather – the most skilled boxer ever – to even suggest that an artless brawler like Conor would have ANY chance against Floyd. They kept talking dumb shit like “Conor has a puncher’s chance,” suggesting this boxing novice could accomplish something that 26 WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONS COULDN’T DO!!!!!

However, one hundred fight doctors that work at ringside during professional bouts saw it differently and protested the match arguing that Conor could be permanently injured or even killed in the ring with Floyd!!! In their defense, the Nevada Boxing Commission said that they would not have issued Conor a licence to fight either “Triple G” or Canelo Alvarez, hard punching Middle-Weights who are fighting each other in a few weeks. The reasoned that against these bigger, stronger, younger fighters Conor could get seriously injured. But he would have been seriously hurt in this fight if the Ref had not jumped in and rescued him by stopping the fight just in the nick of time! So yes, I think the many whites who passionately believed that Conor could prevail over the GREAT Floyd Mayweather were blinded by RACISM!!!!

After hearing Conor talking smack about the fight being stopped too soon, even though he was out on his feet and as helpless as a baby, then hearing that bullshit excuse repeated ad nauseum by Conor fans and Floyd haters, some of whom are black, I wish the Ref had allowed Floyd to finish his cocky ass off!!!!! Then I wouldn’t have to listen to anymore DUMB SHIT about Conor’s chances in the fight….which were about equal to the chances of a popsicle’s survival in a pizza oven!!!!!

Playthell G. Benjamin

Harlem, New York

August 28, 2017

The Hunter Counts his Pelts

AND THE RACISTS ARE CRYING IN THEIR BEER!!!!!

I finally found a way to observe the fight tonight without squandering 100 dollars of my coin. And I rejoice because I am a serious fan of the art of boxing and witnessing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match is a thing of beauty, a wonder to behold. He is a alchemist whose pugilistic conjurations blend science and art in a seemless perormance of speed, power and grace. He is so good that some commentators expose themselves as posers, fugazy’s, base pretenders playng over their heads.
There are, of course, the usual gaggle of bewildered white folks grieving over the demise of yet another “Great White Hope,” and they are joined by some black commentators who overpraised Conor McGregor in order to show that they are even handed in their assessment of the two combatants. Of these, ESPN’s Steven A is the most annoying.

In his attempts to be “even handed” he diminished Mayweather’s masterful dismantling of McGregor, and came dangerously close to “cooning!” Andre Ward, one of the best of the young masters of the “Sweet Science, also was luke warm about Floyd’s performance. Although bearing witness to his mastery in the fight and sound thrashing of McGregor, his remarks sounded too much like damming with faint praise.

For instance, no one said unequivocally that Matweather fought a brilliant fight in terms of strategy and tactics, was always in control of the match; that Conor won a couple of close unimpressive rounds because Floy was just chillin and studying him, taking his measure. After all, he was in the ring with a younger, bigger, guy who is a professional practitioner of a combat sport, a two time world champion in Mixed Marshall Arts.

Conor McGregor: A Game Celtic Warrior

A Two Time World Champion in the Octagon

Ready to Rumble!

Floyd is over forty years old. and he has been in retirement for the last two years! He came out of retirement to fight McGregor because the brash Irishman has a big mouth and called him out – and in so doing he created excitement among the white folks, perhaps they had found the true white hope that would make their long held dream of seeing a bad white man whip Floyd’s ass and shut this rich, arrogant, outspoken, “nigger” up!

You could tell it from the kinds of things they said. And you could see it in their dilillusionment after the fight was stopped. The wonder if it was stopped too soon, especially since Conor says so. But the Ref, like everybody who really knows boxing, could see that Conor was in deep trouble, helpless as a toddler, and Floyd was hitting him with every shot he threw; determined to punish him for the disrespect he has been shown by Conor and his acolytes.

For instance, I have never see a boxer with such an over-inflated ego that was as boisterous and vulgar about it. This has not escaped Floyd’s notice. In fact he pointed out with a sense of irony and anger that when ever he boasts about his victories in the ring he is denounced as abraggart. Conor would have been the perfect white warrior for the age of Trump! But in the end it proved a grand illusion.

The Magnificent Mayweather Breaking Conor Down

Giving Him Boxing Lessons

The Referee Stoped the Bout to Prevent a Tragedy

Mayweather’s Mastery of the Pugilist’s Art was on Full Display

By the Ninth Round Floyd was Hitting Conor at Will…It was Just a Matter of Time

At the Top of the Tenth Round the Ref Mercifully Stopped the Slaughter

We shall see, now that he has been put in his proper place by being recieving a thorough beat down with the whole world watching, let’s see if he has the good grace to thank Floyd for giving him the opportunity to become financially set for life! Up to this point Conor had made 27 million dollars over the years of his MMA career. He stands to make between 75 and 100 million dollars for a night’s work!!!! That’s why the call him “MONEY” Mayweather!

Here is the real deal yhall, if the ref had not stopped the fight Connor could have sustained permanent brain damage or DIED IN THE RING!!!!! Hence he should thank the ref for stopping the fight and saving his life….and the blood thirsty white fanatics in the peanut gallery who acted as if the were Romans in the Circus Maximus demanding that gladiators fight to the death!!!

Hence it seems reasonable to conclude that they were too emotionally invested in this fight. Alas they don’t seem to understand that even had Conor won the fight…they still would not be any more than they are!

Playthell G. Benjamin

Harlem, New York

August 27m 2017

Dr. WEB DuBois: Historian, Sociologist, Economist, Poet, Seer

Chastizing the Racial Mythmakers

Each year on the 19th of January, there is renewed effort to canonize Robert E. Lee, the greatest confederate general. His personal comeliness, his aristocratic birth and his military prowess all call for the verdict of greatness and genius. But one thing–one terrible fact–militates against this, and that is the inescapable truth that Robert E. Lee led a bloody war to perpetuate slavery. Copperheads like The New York Times may magisterially declare, “Of course, he never fought for slavery.”

Well, for what did he fight? State rights? Nonsense. The South cared only for State Rights as a weapon to defend slavery. If nationalism had been a stronger defense of the slave system than particularism, the South would have been as nationalistic in 1861 as it had been in 1812.

No. People do not go to war for abstract theories of government. They fight for property and privilege, and that was what Virginia fought for in the Civil War. And Lee followed Virginia. He followed Virginia not because he particularly loved slavery (although he certainly did not hate it), but because he did not have the moral courage to stand against his family and his clan. Lee hesitated and hung his head in shame, because he was asked to lead armies against human progress and Christian decency and did not dare refuse. He surrendered not to Grant, but to Negro Emancipation.

Today we can best perpetuate his memory and his nobler traits not by falsifying his moral debacle, but by explaining it to the young white south. What Lee did in 1861, other Lees are doing in 1928. They lack the moral courage to stand up for justice to the Negro because of the overwhelming public opinion of their social environment.

Their fathers in the past have condoned lynching and mob violence, just as today they acquiesce in the disfranchisement of educated and worthy black citizens, provide wretchedly inadequate public schools for Negro children and endorse a public treatment of sickness, poverty and crime which disgraces civilization.

It is the punishment of the South that its Robert Lees and Jefferson Davises will always be tall, handsome and well-born. That their courage will be physical and not moral. That their leadership will be weak compliance with public opinion and never costly and unswerving revolt for justice and right.

It is ridiculous to seek to excuse Robert Lee as the most formidable agency this nation ever raised to make 4 million human beings goods instead of men. Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.

Two of the 20th Centuries Greatest Revolutions

Dr. DuBois and Mao Tse Tung: “The Great Helmsman” and The Pan-Afrcanist Seer

Dr. WEB DuBois

New York

1928 ********************

A Note on Dr. DuBois

Yesterday a former student of mine when I was a Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where I was a co-founder of the WEB Dubois Department of Black Studies, the first Black Studies Department in the World! (See: “Dr. DuBois Then and Now” at https://commentariesonthetimes.me/2013/12/15/dr-dubois-then-and-now/) posted the article above by Dr. DuBois on my facebook page.

Since only one person appears to have read it in the 24 hours since it was posted, I have concluded it is because the readers on my page do not have a proper appreciation for the place of Dr, Dubois among 20th century thinkers. Actually The Doctor’s life and thought spans two centuries. He came of age intellectually during the 19th century, and was the most broadly learned, prophetic and consequential American humanist intellectual of the 20th century! He was the father of Black Studies and American scientific sociological investigation of race relations. He was also the central figure the militant black liberation movement in the US, and a Father of Pan-Africanism. He was a prolific writer who combined the rigor of the scholar, the vision of the seer, and the pen of the poet….he has no peer!

The Silent Jew in “The Donald’s” White House

A CANDID NOTE TO JARED KUSHNER

We are told that YOU Jared, son in law of the orange ogre that is befowling the White House, is a commited Jew who is strongly pro-Zionist. If this is true how come you are acting like the silent jews that denied the holcaust was happening until it was undeniable, or the Jewish collaborators in the Nazi concentration camps and the Eastern European ghettoes? Please help us understand how you could witness a white “Goyim” mob marching in an American city bearing torches while shouting “BLOOD AND SOIL!” And “Jew Will not remove us!” Yet not utter a mumbling word of protest?

Maybe you are taking your cue about how to behave from the German Zionist in the 1930’s – whose misguided activities are detailed in “Zionism in the Age of Dictators” by the brillant Jewish writer Lenny Brenner. These Zionist leaders thought that by refusing to oppose the developing Nazi movement they could strike a deal with them to achieve their objective of a Jewish homeland.

The modern Zionist movement was born with the 1896 publication of “The Jewish State,” by Theodor Herzl, who founded the “World Zionist Organization” in 1897, along with the Vienese Jew Nathanial Birnbaum, who had founded “Kadimah,” the first Jewish student organization at the University of Vienna in 1883. He had also published the phamplet Auto-Emancipation the same year.

Herzl, who had recieved a college education in Germany, and tried his best to assimilate into the wider Christian community became thorougly disillusioned by the trial of Captian Dreyfus, a French Jewish military man whose trial on obviously trumped up charges brought out all of the latent anti-semitism that lay just beneath the polite surface of what appeared to be an open, tolerant, religiously liberal French society. The fact that France had been the leader among the nations of Europe in accptance of the Jews, granting them full Civil Rights as French citizens, convinced Herzl that there was no hope of eradicating anti-Semitism among Christians. Hence he became convinced that Jews could only hope to find peace and security in an independent Jewish state.

Furthermore, Herzl had been greatly influenced by the Pan-Germanic ideology – fueled by nationalism and romanticism such as we hear in the music of Ricard Wagner – as was the great Afro-American scholar WEB DuBois, who was pursuing a PhD in economics at the Kaiser Welheim Institute at the University of Berlin, at the time. Ironically, Zionism, Nazism, and Pan-Africanism has their intellectual roots in these ideas which were rife in 19th century German universities. Central to this romantic nationalism was the idea of “Blut and Boden” i.e “Blood and soil,” which argues that central to the identity of any nation is the identification of people of one blood with a specific territory (soil)

This became the basis of the Nazi identification of who was – and was not – a German citizen, and this idea set in motion sinister forces that first isolated and discriminated against Jews by law. Then unleashed a genocidal attack against them that killed millions in a “Holocaust!” This truth is either denied or embraced by the Neo-Nazi thugs that marched in the streets of Charlottesville Virginia a few nights ago! So tell us Jared, why are you so silent on this? Could it be a result of the fact that Zionist Jews in America today have formed an unholy alliance with so-called CHRISTIAN ZIONIST, who are largely white southern Evangelicals, many of whom are WHITE CHRISTIAN SUPREMACISTS who don’t like Jews or Blacks!

It is no secret that hard core Pro-Zionist American Jews have entered into a Faustian bargain with these Christian bigots whom you know does not like Jews, because they are a critical element in the all-powerful “Israel Lobby.” The role of Christian Zionist in the Israel Lobby is detailed by Dr’s John Miersheimer and Stephen Walt, Professors of political science at the University of Chicago and Harvard, in their definitive book “THE ISRAEL LOBBY.” Since Christian Zionists are willing to back any kind of aggressive and unjust policies against the Palestinians because their theology tells them that “Christ The King” cannot return until the Jews are full in posession of Israel, you are willing to take these snakes unto your bosom.

Alas, dispite the fact that you are well aware that these Evangelical “Christian Zionists” believe that Judaism is herasy, and if Jews do not convert to Christianity before the “Rapture” they will BURN IN HELL, you continue your alliance with them because you think it’s a can’t lose proposition. From the perspective of a morally twisted businessman, if you look only at cost/benefit in political terms it does seem like a good deal.

After all, if they are going to support any outrageous policy of the Israeli government, and all you have to do is convert to Christianity before the “Rapture,” which you rightfully view as NONSENSE, there seems no downside to the deal. But I would remind you Jared, in the spirt of the ancient Hebrew Prophets: Beware Son! For when you make Faustian bargins the DEVIL WILL EVENTUALLY CLAIM YO SOUL!!! Is that why you have chosen to remain silent as a church mouse while Nazis are wilding in the streets of America???

Harlem,New York

August 14, 2017

Sound the Brass in Celebration

N’orleans Pays Homage to the Queen Mother of Jazz

Deloris Marsalis: Elegant, Charming, Intelligent and Compassionate

One a sizzling summer day in the Crescent City Deloris Marsalis, mother of the marvelous musical Marsalis Clan, and wife to the master musician Ellis Marsalis, danced and joined the ancestors in her eightieth year. Although I met the grand lady only once, I feel close to her by virtue of my twenty year friendship with her illustrious son Wynton – the peerless trump virtuoso, bandleader, and brilliant composer – and her husband Ellis; two paragons of the musician as intellectual and cultural leader. And the there were all the wonderful stories I heard about her from family friends.

However according to her obituary and the testimony of friends she was quite nonchalant about the fame of the Marsalis men. Indeed we are told in the obit:

“Being the matriarch of what would become a famous family of Jazz musicians should have been the lede, but for her it was not. That note would be reserved for the second paragraph. If you came to her to talk about her famous husband or sons it would not have been a very long conversation. If you wanted to talk about what you were doing, what you were interested in and how you were making it in the world, she was all ears.”

We are also reminded of her generous but no-nonsense disposition.

“But the absolute best of her was her…love for those who have been brought low, by life, by circumstance, by mishap, or even by their own hand. She would help those in trouble financially, and she would often lend an ear of support by letter, postcard or phone call whether you were in your home, hospital, jail, or just waiting for your next place. Other than her husband, few if any would know of the scope of her ministrations.”

However Deloris was no pushover that could be easily gamed, rather she was a schrewd judge of character who could detect the okey doke or con before it was played:

“Not one to favor pity – she could sniff this out with the best – over actually helping you by getting you to help yourself. She would not tolerate “foolishness” or self-pity, if you needed a shoulder to cry on it was there, but only for a minute before you would get the “Now let me tell you something…”.

Despite her stoic manner in dealing with people in crisis, she is also remembered as a witty woman with a great sense of humor: “One of the more unique parts of her was her funny bone. It was a sudden wit and humor that would present itself no different than a strike of lightning. If you had ever thought you could get the best of her, you were quickly reminded that you had not.” But the thing that won the heart of Ellis Marsalis, the man with whom she would spend 57 years of her life and have six sons with, was her love of music especially Jazz. “She was one of the few girls who that I knew who actually liked jazz” Ellis recalls.

Hence, although she was not a musician, her life became deeply embedded in the music scene. And New Orleans was the perfect venue, where the action was. New Orleans is a city where music making is intricately intertwined with the basic rituals of life in a unique way. It is the fabled “birthplace of Jazz,” the quintessential American art, a complex instrumental music whose origins lie in the church, the Opera House, the whorehouse and street festivals. It is an enchanted city where people will make music and dance in the streets at the slightest inticement…a cultural phenomenon that bewitched my dancer daughter who fell under the spell of the “Big Easy.”

It is in the nature of things that music should play such a central role in the last rites for the departed in N’orleans, especially in the culture of the Afro-American community from whence the Jazz tradition sprang. And thus it is fitting and proper that her gifted sons – whose contribution to keeping that tradition alive is incalcuable – should turn out and lead the parade in the funeral of their beloved mother – just as Wynton has done at the funerals of so many Jazz greats in New York City.

I have witnessed the black musicians of the Crescent City rise up and express the mourning of the entire city after the devastating blow from hurricaine Katrina, when the whole town went under water. In a concert held at Lincoln Center, filed with memorable performances, the passion and pathos in the sound of the music the Crescent City players made was a healing balm for wounded spirts that gave hope to all who heard it.

Just as all who heard the musicians of the community, led by the son’s of Deloris Marsalis, joined by singers from all stations in life, felt their spirits dance while joyously singing the old hymn “I’ll fly Away.” There was more triumph than tragedy in the air as the lyrics rang out, soaring above the sound of the horns: “I’ll fly away O glory/I’ll fly away/When I die halilujah by and by/I’ll Fly away,” while the funeral marchers cut a jubilant “second line” step for which New Orleans funeral processions are world famous.

Although the pain of loss was clearly visible on their faces – Wynton and Jason especially – one could see in the dance an affirmation of the wonderful life she lived, and the lives that are yet to be lived by future generations of the Marsalis clan. Ellis Marsalis, her long time husband and patriach of this family that has given so much beauty to the world, was a paragon of calm dignity as he turned out to pay his final respects to his partner and queen.

Ellis Arriving at the Church

Pater-familias of the Magnificent Marsalis’

The triumphant procession was led by her grandson Mckenzie Marsalis, decked out in the grand New Orleans style with Bowler hat, gloves, shoulder sash, colorful parasol and drill master’s whistle; Cake walking down the avenue steppin high. Mother Marsalis was given the kind of grand send off befitting a culture hero who worked her magic from the wings as her husband and progeny took center stage and weaved their alchemy in the lime light.

Yet anyone who has ever spent any time in the company of the Marsalis men will recognize the civilizing touch of this wise mothers hand. For there is not to be found a more gracious, charming, humble bunch of superbly gifted men. While Ellis was their muse and inspired them to make a living in music, she was their pre-eminent guide to making a good life as men of substance. Their deep sense of loss at her departure from this life was palpable – which is poignantly portrayed in the photographs – even amidst the celebration of her life in the transcendent ambiance of the occasion conjured up in the majesty of their song.

Scenes from the Going Home Ceremony of the Queen Mother of Jazz

Wynton Directs the Musicians Waiting to follow the Casket

McKenzie Marsalis Leading the Procession

Let the Trumpets Sound!

“I’ll Fly Away”…Delfayo Marsalis Raises his Voice in Song

And Joy Cometh to his Soul

His Drumsticks Put Away…Jason Marsalis Walks in Silence

While the Brass Celebrated with Fanfares

Spike Lee Offer Words of Consolation to Wynton

The Marsalis Brothers offer a Libation to The Ancestors for their Mother

A Sunday Kind of Love

Ellis and Deloris in the Autumn of Life

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Click on link to see the Funeral Procession.

First there is the dirge as the leave the church. The band is playing “Amazing Grace. Later they perform Elijah Jane.